Electronic device with a thin display

ABSTRACT

A user interface assembly includes a thin display and a control element such as a rotary encoder, rotary switch, or toggle switch. The control element is manipulable by a person to generate an electronic input signal to a processor, with the thin display presenting a feedback indication received from the processor. The thin display is associated with no other control element, such that the control element and thin display establish a modular unit.

I. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to data input devices with thindisplays for presenting information relating to data input.

II. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In my co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/069,614, filed Feb.28, 2005 and incorporated herein by reference, I disclosed a userinterface with a thin display device that displayed data related to theinput. The device includes a panel on which several input controls suchas pivotable switches and rotatable knobs could be mounted, withfeedback information provided to the user on a thin display. The usercan manipulate the controls to, e.g., adjust volumes, pulse widthmodulations, etc. of an electronic device such as a waveform generatoror music synthesizer, and feedback information is provided to the useron the thin display. A “thin display” is defined to not include liquidcrystal displays (LCDs) but to include a class of thin, light displaysthat consume little power, such as thin-film transistor backplanedisplays, electrophoretic displays, electro-optical displays, organicelectro-luminescent displays, and microcapsule displays. Exemplarynon-limiting thin displays are those made by E.Ink and disclosed in, togive but one example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,639,578, incorporated herein byreference.

While useful, requiring a single panel to hold all the displays mayrequire the panel to be custom-made, reducing the flexibility of thedevice and rendering it problematic to change the control layout fordifferent types of electronic devices. The present invention addressesthis issue.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A user interface assembly includes a thin display and a control elementthat is adjustable to generate an electronic input signal to aprocessor. The thin display presents a feedback indication received fromthe processor which represents the input signal, and the thin display isassociated with no other control element, such that the control elementand thin display establish a modular unit.

In some implementations a substrate supports the thin display and thecontrol element. In this implementation, a first portion of the modularunit is disposed on a first side of the substrate and a second portionof the modular unit is disposed on a second side of the substrate, and anut is threadably engaged with the second portion. The control elementcan be a rotary encoder with associated knob or wheel to adjust theencoder, or it can be a rotary or toggle switch.

In another aspect, a method of implementing a user interface for adevice includes using a control element to generate an input controlsignal, and based on the control signal, generating feedback data. Themethod includes displaying the feedback data on a thin displayassociated with only the control element and no other control element.

In yet another aspect, a modular unit includes a single control elementand a thin display.

The details of the present invention, both as to its structure andoperation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and inwhich:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of themodular user interface assembly with thin display, used in connectionwith a rotary encoder;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the assembly shown in FIG. 1, displaying afirst feedback indication when the knob is in a first position;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the assembly shown in FIG. 1, displaying asecond feedback indication when the knob is in a second position;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a non-limiting hardware arrangement,showing plural user interface assemblies connected to an electroniccomponent system;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a wheel-type encoder assembly with thindisplay;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the assembly shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the assembly shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a front view of a control element embodied as a toggle switchassembly with thin display;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the toggle switch assembly shown in FIG.8;

FIG. 10 is a front view of a control element embodied as a rotary switchassembly with thin display; and

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the rotary switch assembly shown inFIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring initially to FIG. 1, a modular unit is shown, generallydesignated 100, which includes a control element embodied by auser-manipulable knob 101 coupled through a connecting shaft 101 a to arotary encoder 103. A thin display unit 102 is sandwiched between theknob 101 and rotary encoder 103 as shown. The rotary encoder 103, knob101, and shaft 101 a turn together as a unit, with the rotary encodergenerating a signal representative of its angular position.

Although the rotary encoder 103 may be replaced by a potentiometer thattypically generates a minimum signal at the seven o'clock position and amaximum signal at the five o'clock position, it is to be understood thatthe rotary encoder 103 does not have such a sweep angle. Instead, it canrotate freely and has no stops, so that a user can manipulate the knob101 (and, hence, encoder 103) to generate an input signal to a processor105, normally mounted on a processor substrate 105 a, with the processor105 in turn generating a feedback signal indicative thereof for displaydiscussed momentarily.

The display 102 preferably does not rotate with the encoder 103. Thus,the shaft 101 a extends through a hole in the display 102 and rotateswithin the hole. In some less preferred implementations, however, thedisplay 102 might so rotate.

The modular assembly unit 100 is mounted to a substrate 1001 such as acircuit board or panel, which may also support the processor 105. In thenon-limiting embodiment shown, part of the assembly unit 100 extendsthrough the substrate 1001 and is threadably engaged by a fastener suchas a nut 104, to thereby sandwich the substrate 1001 between the display102, which is disposed on the top of the substrate 1001, and the nut104, which is disposed on the bottom of the substrate 1001.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show front views of the assembly unit 100. As shown, thethin display 102 may be shaped as a flat ring, i.e., as a hollow disk,or it may be rectangular. The display 102 presents one or more feedbackindications received from the processor 105, with the feedbackindication representing the input signal generated by the rotary encoder103. Thus, the thin display 102 can indicate a name of the function ofthe rotary encoder 103, e.g., “VOL” for volume, as indicated at 102 a.Also, the thin display 102 may indicate in alpha-numeric or graphicalformat (as shown at 102 b) a feedback indication of the input signalsuch as the circular bar shown at 102 b. The circular bar shown at 102 bindicates a knob position, increasing in magnitude around the peripheryof the display 102 as shown from FIG. 2 to FIG. 3 as the knob 101 turnsright. The feedback indication, owing to the very low power requirementsof the thin display 102, is held almost without power consumption untilit is redrawn.

Referring to FIG. 4, the assembly unit 100 along with other userinterface assembly units described further below is shown communicatingwith a bus 500 of an electronic system 504, such as a music synthesizeror waveform generator or other component system. The position of therotary encoder 103 may be stored in non-volatile memory 503 such as butnot limited to RAM, and the processor 105, which is associated with theelectronic system 504, can access the memory 503. The information thusis maintained after power down. At the next power up, the position isread from the memory 503 and shown again on the display 102. A read-onlymemory 502 may also be provided for access by the processor 105 asshown.

As recognized herein, among the advantages of the rotary encoder 103 isthat its resolution can be configured. Specifically, in case of theconventional audio potentiometer discussed above, attenuation isnegative infinite db at the seven o'clock position and 0 dB (noattenuation) at the five o'clock position, whereas the rotary encoder103 can be configured by programming the processor 105 to recognize thatattenuation changes from negative infinite db to 0 dB in two or morecomplete turns of the encoder 103. Furthermore, the function nameprovided by the processor 105 to the thin display 102 (indicated at 102a in FIG. 2) may be dynamically changed. For example, in a first mode,volume control may be assigned to the rotary encoder and tone controlmay be assigned in a second mode, with the associated function namebeing indicated on the display 102. The mode may be changed by softwareor mechanically. For example, the two modes may be toggled between bypushing/pulling the knob 101. In any case, the display 102 is associatedwith only the rotary encoder and no other input control element.

The control bus 500, which as shown may be connected to each userinterface 100, 300 and 400 (the latter two being discussed furtherbelow), may be, for example, an I2C bus. As discussed above, the rotaryencoder 100 sends a control signal such as angle information to the hostprocessor 105 and the host processor 105 returns feedback data such ascircular bar data to the rotary encoder assembly 100 for display on thethin display 102.

Now referring to FIGS. 5-7 a second embodiment of the control elementwith thin display is shown, designated 200. Although not shown in FIG.4, the modular assembly unit 200 may be engaged with the bus 500.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5-7 the control element is embodied asa wheel-type rotary encoder 203 with thin display 202 indicating thefunction name of the control element, e.g., “VOLUME” shown at 202 a, andthe position, shown at 202 b, of the control element. The bar-shown at202 b grows when a wheel 201, which is connected to the encoder 203 tovary the control signal it generates, is turned forward. It is to beunderstood that the rotary encoder 203 may be substantially identical tothe encoder 103 shown in FIGS. 1-3, and thus that it converts a rotationangle to digital data.

Now referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, the control element may be embodied by atoggle switch. More specifically, a pivotable or translationally movabletoggle switch 301 may be moved to one of plural positions indicated on athin display 302 that may be rectangular in shape as shown, e.g., “A”,“B”, or “C”. The display 302 indicates the function name of the toggleswitch, e.g., “INPUT” as indicated at 302 a, and the position of thetoggle switch as indicated at 302 b. When the switch 301 is set toposition “A”, the letter “A” is circled or highlighted or otherwisedisplayed to show it is selected, and the other inputs (“B” and “C”) canbe grayed out. It is to be understood that as shown, the toggle switch301 may electrically communicate with the bus 500 shown in FIG. 4.

FIGS. 10 and 11 show that the control element may be embodied by arotary switch. More specifically, a rotatable rotary switch 401 has anassociated thin display 402 that may be rectangular in shape and thatindicates the function name of the rotary switch 401, e.g., “INPUT” asshown at 402 a, and that also indicates the position of the switch 401as shown at 402 b. As was the case with the toggle switch 300, when theknob of the rotary switch 401 is set to position “A”, “A” is circled andthe other two position indications may be grayed out.

In any case, in each of the above examples the thin display isassociated with only its own control element to establish a modular unitthat may be mounted on a substrate and connected to, e.g., the bus 500of an electronic component. Because each modular unit may be mountedanywhere on the substrate, the system shown in, e.g., FIG. 4 may havemultiple control elements and be layout free, in that each modular unitcan be placed anywhere in the substrate (e.g., a control panel).

Referring briefly back to FIG. 4, the rotary switch 400 sends positioninformation to the host processor 105, which returns feedback data fordisplay on the thin display. Similarly, the toggle switch 300communicates with the host processor 105. The rotary switch 400 and thetoggle switch 300 can switch an internal parameter, for example, in themain system 504. They also may have mechanical contacts and switchactual signals. As mentioned above, the processor 105 stores theinterface configuration information to RAM 503, which maintains dataeven while the system is powered off. The processor 105 may also controlthe main system 504 based on the information from the user interfaceassembly units shown in the figures, and the processor 105 sends displaydata to each of the interface assembly units. The function of eachcontrol element may be established by properly programming the processor105.

In some implementations the display data sent from the host processor105 can be parameterized. For example, a value “50”(%) can be sent toindicate a half of the full circular bar shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. Thefunction/position name may be sent as a series of ASCII codes.Alternatively, if the internal bus 500 has enough bandwidth, graphicdata (e.g. bit map data) may be sent to each user interface.

If there is a standardized protocol for display data, it is easy todevelop a product. Any vendor's part can coexist on the control bus. Thepreferred thin display has full color, high contrast, high displayspeed, is thin, light weight, consumes very little power and is lowcost.

In addition to the non-limiting example applications discussed above,the present modular control element with thin display can apply to anysuitable user interface part, for example, push button switches,variable capacitor, etc.

Accordingly, it may now be appreciated that the present inventionprovides an easy and user-friendly manual interface, displays anyinformation such as function/position name, and is configurable by meansof the processor 105. Also, it has very low power consumption and doesnot require backlight. It is layout free in that it can be placedanywhere on the substrate. The resolution of the control element may beconfigured by the associated processor, and the present principles areeffective for multiple parameter controls/adjustments.

While the particular Electronic Device With A Thin Display is hereinshown and described in detail, it is to be understood that the subjectmatter which is encompassed by the present invention is limited only bythe claims.

1-8. (canceled)
 9. A method of implementing a user interface for adevice, the method comprising: using a first control element to generatea first input control signal to a processor; based on the first controlsignal, generating first feedback data; displaying the first feedbackdata on a first thin display associated with only the first controlelement and no other control element; using a second control element togenerate a second input control signal to the processor; based on thesecond control signal, generating second feedback data; displaying thesecond feedback data on a second thin display associated with only thesecond control element and no other control element, wherein the controlelements are physically separate from each other and are eachmechanically mounted on a substrate.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe first control element and first thin display establish a modularunit.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising supporting the thindisplays and the respective control elements on the substrate.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein a first portion of the modular unit isdisposed on a first side of the substrate and a second portion of themodular unit is disposed on a second side of the substrate, a nut beingthreadably engaged with the second portion.
 13. The method of claim 10,wherein the first control element is a rotary encoder with associatedknob to adjust the encoder.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein thefirst control element is a rotary encoder with associated wheel toadjust the encoder.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the firstcontrol element is a rotary switch.
 16. The method of claim 10, whereinthe first control element is a toggle switch.
 17. A modular unitassembly, comprising: a single first control element; a first thindisplay associated with the single first control element and with noother control element; a second control element; a second thin displayassociated with the second control element and with no other controlelement; and a common bus receiving electrical signals from both controlelements, wherein at least the first control element has at least firstand second modes representing respective first and second inputfunctions, the modes being toggled between by pushing/pulling the firstcontrol element, wherein the control elements are physically separatefrom each other and are each mechanically mounted on a substrate. 18.The unit assembly of claim 17, wherein both control elements generaterespective input control signals to a processor and the displays presentrespective feedback signals received from the processor and indicativeof a position of the respective control element.
 19. The unit assemblyof claim 18, wherein the first control element is a rotary encoder withassociated knob or wheel to adjust the encoder.
 20. The unit assembly ofclaim 18, wherein the first control element is a rotary or toggleswitch.